A least-squares inversion technique for identification of a point release: Application to Fusion Field Trials 2007

Identification of a point release is a parametric estimation problem associated with the estimation of its parameters namely, location and strength. A least-squares inversion algorithm, free from initial guess of release parameters, is utilized here for the source identification in eleven trials of single continuous point releases conducted during Fusion Field Trials 2007. The source locations are retrieved within an average error of 23 m from their true locations. The maximum and minimum errors in the retrieval of the source location are obtained as 57.3 m and 3 m respectively. The source strength is retrieved within a factor of 1.6 in all the trials. The sensitivity of the source estimation is analysed with respect to (i) variation of grid sizes in discretized space, (ii) inclusion of zero measurements and (iii) addition of new measurements. Posterior uncertainty is mentioned in terms of variance of the source parameters, approximated by using the Hessian of the cost function. In addition, an attempt is made to obtain the minimum number of measurements for a successful source inversion. The study explores the future applicability of this least-squares inversion technique for point source identification.